Spinning in a circle

Jonah Goldberg is right on the money in his take-down of the left’s response to the appointment of Tony Snow. On the one hand, the Bush-haters at John Podesta’s think tank couldn’t resist digging up every negative comment Snow has ever made about the Bush administration. Not only did this help establish Snow’s credibility and integrity, as Goldberg notes, but it also signaled to the conservative base that this is a good and meaningful selection.

On the other hand, Nancy Pelosi attacked the selection on the grounds that Snow is a Fox guy and, as such, cannot be expected to criticize the administration. Not only did this undercut the Podesta crew’s message, but Pelosi came off (again) as ridiculous. No reasonable person expects a president to appoint someone who will attack his administration going forward.

The Democrats remain so insecure that they still feel compelled (like some second-rate blogger) to spin every story, however mindlessly. It reminds me of their self-defeating approach during the 2004 presidential campaign, when insisted on spinning events as inconsequential as Curt Shilling’s support for the Republican ticket. Once in a while, it doesn’t hurt to be silent or non-committal.

I’m not sure that anything reasonably foreseeable can prevent the Democrats from achieving a substantial victory in 2006. But behavior like this gives me some hope.